• Brian Windhorst has said LeBron James would be ‘physically intimidated’ by Ron Artest
• The man now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest is considered among the best defenders of his generation
• Windhorst closely covered James during his time in Cleveland
The NBA has seen its fair share of defensive pests emerge over its 77-year history, but modern defensive pests are a little different. Players that could effectively guard shooters and perimeter players are a necessity nowadays and have forced defenders to be more versatile than they used to be.
Ron Artest or Metta Sandiford-Artest, is a former Defensive Player of the Year and would terrorize opposing wings in matchups. His defense was so proficient that Brian Windhorst claims he was one of the only players that would physically intimidate LeBron James early in his career.
“Ron Artest is probably the only player, or one of the very few that I saw physically intimidate LeBron James during his career.”
LeBron averages 26.9 points, 6.8 assists, and 6.7 rebounds on 49% shooting against Ron Artest. He’s also won 13 out of the 21 games the pair went head-to-head on. James may still have been dropping buckets on Artest, but that doesn’t change the fact that it could be a matchup he was concerned about at the time.
LeBron James Has Rarely Been Physically Dominated On The Court
The truth of the matter is that LeBron James is not really a player that opponents have ever been able to physically dominate. There are defenders that have gotten into his head, like DeShawn Stevenson, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry during the 2011 Finals, but nobody could claim a physical advantage over him.
The closest James has come to being overpowered was in the 2014 Finals against Kawhi Leonard, but even that is a matchup James has gotten used to by now. LBJ was standing tall when the likes of Kevin Garnett were trying to overpower him.
To say any player has physically intimidated LeBron is interesting because he rarely lets it show on the court.
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